Govt unveils action plan to cut summer pollution

Open burning of biomass and road dust are among the major air pollutants in Delhi as they are the major contributors of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) to city air.

The Delhi government on Monday unveiled a 14-point action plan to combat air pollution during summer which will kick off with a month-long campaign against open burning of waste and garbage from April 12, environment minister Gopal Rai said.

Children bathe in a park on a hot summer day, in Gurugram. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times) (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

He added that an anti-dust campaign, the second phase of the action plan, will be launched from April 15. Open burning of biomass and road dust are among the major air pollutants in Delhi as they are the major contributors of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) to city air.

The minister said that the remaining 12 components of the plan will be laid out with a long-term focus. He said this includes a high-level meeting to be held on April 21, where experts will discuss and suggest technological solutions to landfill fires that add noxious gases to the city air.

“Of the 14 points under the summer action plan, two immediate actions have been prepared and the remaining 12 will be released in the long term. Under this, we will be launching our anti-open burning and anti-road dust campaigns for a month from April 12 and April 15 respectively,” said Rai.

The plan was reviewed at a meeting on Monday which was attended by officials from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the three municipal corporations, DDA, environment department, revenue department, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), Irrigation and Flood Control Department and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The plan is unique since most of the focus on pollution mitigation so far remain on air pollution in winters when a host of local sources, farm fires in nearby states and adverse meteorological factors push pollution to hazardous levels.

Rai said the Public Works Department (PWD) has been asked to form a special task force under the summer action plan, which will focus on increasing roadside green cover in Delhi to curb dust pollution. He added that government has started the ‘Green Delhi Startup Scheme’ with IIT Delhi, under which startups will be encouraged to find solutions to environmental problems such as single-use-plastic (SUP).

Rai said 500 teams from 10 government departments will be deployed across Delhi for the anti-open burning campaign, and 78 mechanical road sweepers and 587 water sprinkling machines will be used for the anti-dust campaign.

The other focus areas of the plan include tree plantation, for which Rai said a meeting will be scheduled on Tuesday to announce the annual greening targets for Delhi this year. Urban farming, which will see the Delhi government promote rooftop farming; development of green parks, for which the government will provide ₹2.55 lakh per acre to RWAs and development and preservation of water bodies form other components of the action plan.

The plan also states that industrial pollution will be cut by ensuring that each industry in Delhi uses piped natural gas, for which a special drive will be launched from April 20 onwards, while real-time source apportionment will be available from August 2022, Rai said.